Rockwood Holdings withstands euro currency shock - CFO

TORONTO (ICIS news)--The sharp decline in the euro has had no economic effect on US-based specialty chemicals company Rockwood Holdings, its chief financial officer said on Thursday.

“The change in the euro really has no impact in terms of cash or basic economics,” Robert Zatta told analysts at a webcast investor conference in ?xml:namespace>New York.

“From a transactional standpoint, we have been able to balance out exposure between dollars and euros,” he added.

However, there was a translation effect on Rockwood’s reported results, with each one-cent change translating into a $2.5m (€2.1m) change in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), on an annualised basis, he said.

Similarly, a one-cent change in the euro had a one-cent change on Rockwood’s earnings per share, he said.

Rockwood CEO Seifi Ghasemi added that although about half of Rockwood’s sales were in Europe – 52% of its $3bn net sales last year – the company had only little exposure to the European consumer market.

Rather, he said, most of Rockwood’s products were sold to manufacturers in Europe, who were then exporting.

“The European economy going at zero percent, or negative, is not a worry for us,” he said.

Ghasemi also noted that Rockwood, with its focus on inorganic chemicals, had only very limited exposure to the fluctuations in oil prices.